Verizon customers see outages as worker strike continues

As negotiations over a strike by 45,000 Verizon workers continued to sour, several thousand Washington-area customers experienced service outages caused by what the company called acts of sabotage.

Verizon reported 28 incidents of cut cables and damaged terminals in the District and Maryland since the strike began Sunday, out of more than 100 similar incidents along the East Coast. Most of the vandalism has taken place in New Jersey and New York, Verizon spokesman Harry Mitchell said. Aaron Dom, the area manager for Maryland and the District, said there has been a marked rise in serious vandalism on the company’s systems since the strike began. “Normally, in a year’s time we'd see maybe six acts of sabotage,” he said, adding that of the 28 incidents of damage, 18 took place in the District and 10 in Maryland. Vandals in the region appear to be cutting fiber-optic and copper lines as well as going after the large, square terminals on street corners, in what appear to be attempts to damage more of the system at a time, Dom said. Verizon is offering up to $50,000 to anyone who can identify the vandals. The Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represent the workers, said they do not condone any illegal or violent actions and are confident that the picketers are respecting and obeying the law.